Law Weblog

Bills become Acts in final process

Friday 8 April 2005 at 3:51 am | In News | Post Comment

Tonight Parliament was prorogued – closed – until after the general election. One of the last duties of a Parliament is to give Royal Assent to Bills that have been passed.

MPs process – well amble – to the Lords behind Black Rod. They then huddle at the bar of the House of Lords to hear the Commissioners give Royal Assent, in Norman French and then the Bills are Acts of Parliament and the law of the land.

The Queen does not give Royal Assent, the last time the monarch gave assent in person was in 1854. The Clerk of the Crown simply reads out the names of the Bills, the Commissioners, including the Lord Chancellor doff their black hats before the Clerk of the Parliaments pronounces consent in Norman French in the words `La Reyne le veult’, which means `the Queen wills it’.

For the MPs who could not be bothered to walk the 200 yards to the Lords, or knew they would not fit the Speaker of the Commons read out the names of the Bills that had become law in the final moments of this Parliament. Queen Anne was the last monarch to refuse to give her consent in 1707.